Machines that automatically dispense objects.
Automatic dispensing machines have become increasingly popular because of their ability to deliver objects reliably to authorized recipients and thereby providing inventory control and saving labor costs that would otherwise be involved. A wide variety of dispensing machines has been developed to dispense different sorts of objects, and yet all these dispensers suffer from various problems.
Many automatic dispensing machines are large and heavy, take up floor space, and are expensive to build and maintain. They tend to include motors and mechanical movements that add to their weight, complexity, and expense. They also have to be reloaded at the dispensing site by a service man that transports the objects to be dispensed.
A departure from this trend occurs in U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,007, which suggests cells arrayed in drawers to make medical supplies available to authorized recipients. Drawers are loaded with a multiplicity of individual cells that can be transported to the dispensing site, but there, the cells are merely opened to provide access, rather than actually dispensing the intended objects.
Dispensing machines are also required to generate information on what is dispensed to which recipient. Here too, present machines either fail to do this completely or accomplish it in an inconvenient and expensive way.
Altogether, this invention aims at a simpler and more efficient automatic dispensing machine that is compact, and inexpensive. The invention also aims at versatility in dispensing a wide variety of objects and at convenience and efficiency in generating and transmitting information on dispensing transactions.
The inventive dispenser uses a structure configured to support an array of objects to be dispensed. Retainers mounted on the support structure are latchable to hold the objects in their places in the array until the retainers are selectively unlatched to release the objects for dispensing. Mechanisms to unlatch the retainers are arranged in the support structure, preferably in communication with microcircuitry containing information on the loaded objects and generating information on objects dispensed.
The support structure, retainers, and unlatching mechanisms can be arranged in various ways to achieve advantages sought by the invention. For example, to pack objects densely into the array, a simple tubular structure can support the objects in a honeycomb pattern, with the support tubes distributed between the objects. If the objects vary in size and shape, they can be contained in packages that are dispensed from such an array. A support tube configuration also allows retainers to be mounted on the support tubes and unlatching mechanisms to be mounted within the support tubes. Microcircuitry arranged on a circuit board can be mounted to achieve both physical and electrical communication with the support tubes for dispensing purposes.
Preferred embodiments of the invention take advantage of gravity to power the motion required to dispense the objects. One way this can be done is by orienting the support structure at an inclination at a dispensing site so that unlatching one of the retainers releases an object for gravitationally falling out of and dispensing from the support array. For this purpose, the latchable and unlatchable retainers preferably block exit of objects from an access side of the support structure and spring open when unlatched to permit gravitational exit of objects. Springs can also be arranged to bias the objects into movement gravitationally out of the array.
To make the loading of objects for dispensing more efficient and to accomplish the necessary flow of loading and dispensing information back and forth between a supplier and a user, preferred embodiments of the invention preferably arrange the object supporting array within a portable case. This requires that the support structure, the retainers, and the unlatching mechanisms all be made light enough in weight so that when combined with a reasonable number of objects for dispensing, the case is light enough to be manually handled during transport. Keeping the support structure to a minimum weight, and making the retainers and unlatching mechanisms simple and light in weight helps make this possible. Including microcircuitry in the support structure can ensure that dispensing information travels efficiently between the supplier and the user. The microcircuitry also facilitates electromechanical actuation of retainer unlatching mechanisms, which can be made simple and light in weight by using shaped memory materials. Packaging objects that are not already packaged helps keep the supporting structure simple by not requiring that it provide package-like cells.
Preferred embodiments of the invention thus achieve significant advantages over existing dispensers. They can be made versatile, compact, low in cost, and inexpensive to load and maintain. They can do all this while generating and transmitting the necessary information and securely directing objects only to authorized recipients. They can thus facilitate analysis of a supply flow of the objects and reduce the cost of loading and delivering the objects that will become necessary.